Maybe the flight was cheap. Maybe it's the promise of sun and warm weather. Maybe you've just always wanted to go. Whatever the reason, traveling to El Salvador means embarking on a little adventure in Central America.

So what should a first-time visitor hope to discover? First and foremost, venturing outside the capital of San Salvador is a must, and this can easily be accomplished with a rental car or tour. From there, we have four suggestions:

A slew of movies have used the country's famous landscapes for their setting, the erupting volcano of Bardabunga has opened up new tourism experiences (so long as there's no ash cloud), and it just so happens that we went to Iceland ourselves for the first time this year.

While commercial air traffic has been giving Iceland a wide berth over the past week or two, a few Icelandic airlines are eager to capitalize on the action.

For a start, an Icelandair pilot opted for a scenic routing and extra circle over the volcano, which provided passengers with a good view of the most active zone. A resulting smartphone photo quickly went viral.

Now the Iceland-based low-cost carrier WOW Air (yes, that's really their name) is promoting travel on their cheap fares from European airports to not only visit Iceland, but the eruption in particular. Fly to Reykjavik on Wow from one of their many destinations from 39 EUR each way (we paid $150 for a flight from London earlier this year on Wow), and then make your own way to the north of the country to connect to a sightseeing flight on Mýflug Air.

We opened this week by warning you that Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano - backgrounder from the Icelandic Met Office here, pronunciation tutorial embedded at bottom - had very pointedly begun to rumble. Let this be your official update that as of last night the volcano did indeed erupt, that an aviation red alert has been issued by Iceland's authorities, and that an air traffic ban is now in place around the entire Bardarbunga system. Happy Friday.

Technically there are no big ash problems yet, because the eruption doesn't seem to have kicked up any actual ash. Nonetheless Agence France-Presse is already throwing around phrases like "global travel chaos" in articles about what the next few days might bring. You guys did take our advice on Monday and purchase travel insurance, right?

Ever since the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland led to air travel becoming extremely volcano-vigilant, passengers have purchased transatlantic tickets with the silent prayer of "please don't let a volcano ruin this." That prayer may soon prove fruitless, however, as big ash problems may once again be on the way.

Seismologists aren't the only ones keeping an eye on the recent rumblings over in Iceland, with travelers tuned to the news for the first signs of any ash cloud. There was a pair of earthquakes—greater than 5.0—and both struck near the area in and around the country’s Bardarbunga volcano. As a result, the country bumped its aviation alert up to red, but after a period of calm we’re back to an orange level.

There’s never a bad time to visit Hawaii, but now might be one of the best times to visit. However, for some, we could also see how now would be one of the worst times to visit. That’s because there’s been some rumblings, shakings, and other underground stuff happening with one of the state’s volcanoes.

Over in on the Big Island of Hawaii the volcano known as Mauna Loa may be getting ready to erupt for the first time in decades—the last eruption was way back in 1984.

We’re not really sure if there’s a volcano eruption season, but we do know another one has just blown its top. This time it’s over in Indonesia, as Mount Sangeang Api is pretty darn cranky.

Eruptions began on Friday, and over the weekend ash has started to blow in all the wrong directions. Things have been headed south towards Australia, and this caused carriers like Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin Australia to cancel plenty of their flights. Planes and people headed over to Bali were also affected, so we guess we can classify this as yet another big ash problem.

It's been four years (already!) since the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted and wreaked havoc on international travel. Although volcanologists ranked the eruption low in severity, it was the hulking ash cloud that made headlines. Now, thanks to its having cancelled hundreds of thousands of flights, impacted millions of travelers, and necessitated the development of ash-detection aviation technology, a small parking area with a scenic lookout sees a steady stream of tourist traffic.

Finding the volcano on a map, or viewing some of the seriously humbling photos of the eruption make it seem as though it's in a remote location, far from civilization.

Situated in the middle of Southeast Asia is Indonesia, an archipelago nation the includes the island of Bali, synonymous with tropical cocktails, private luxury villas, and people with smiles as warm as the temps. There is one thing that can throw a wrench in the enjoyment of all of this paradise, however: a sleeping volcano that awakens.

That's just what happened late last week on the main island of Java, when Mount Kelud woke from its dormancy and began spewing ash, rock, and smoke into the sky. History has proved an issue for air travel when there's any type of ash in the atmosphere, so naturally planes were grounded across the region, even as far south as Australian flights en route to Bali, the Cocos Islands, and Christmas Island.

Oh heck—here we go with another big ash problem. This time it’s some volcanic activity down in Mexico that’s creating the problems, as Popocatepetl is the one messing up the atmosphere this time. This sucker is kind of half way between spots like Mexico City and Puebla, so if you have flights in or out of the area just be aware.

The delays and cancellations were all over the place last week, as carriers like Delta, United, American Airlines, and US Airways all had to mess with their schedules to accommodate the stuff up in the skies. At one point there were around 40 flights cancelled on just one day, so Popocatepetl is certainly less than friendly.

In case you missed it, over the weekend there was explosion over in Cleveland—but don’t worry—it wasn’t that Cleveland.

Apparently it’s time again for the annual volcanic eruption, and that means potential disruption to air travel. This time the ash and smoke is doing its thing up in Alaska, as the Cleveland volcano is getting a little cranky.

In case you want to know where to look for the troublemaker on the map, this volcano is roughly 940 miles southwest of Anchorage, stuck on Chuginadak Island within the Aleutian chain of islands.